Sunday, April 15, 2007

I adapted a recipe, using zucchini instead of pumpkin - it was delicious!

It was my first baked risotto and I must confess that while placing the ingredients together in the bowl I still wasn’t convinced it was going to work. I was so wrong: by the time I finished preparing Joao’s beef and potatoes my risotto was ready and all I had to do was stir it a bit to make it creamy.

I highly recommend this recipe and I think that many other vegetables would replace zucchini wonderfully here.

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF. Place the rice, stock, butter and zucchini in an ovenproof dish, mix and cover tightly with a lid or foil. Bake for 30 minutes or until the rice is soft – the risotto will be quite liquid.*
While the risotto is cooking, place the bacon under a hot grill (broiler) and cook for 2 minutes on each side or until crisp – I placed the rashers between sheets of paper towel and cooked in the microwave oven for 1 minute. Set aside.
Remove the risotto from the oven, add the salt, pepper, parmesan and parsley and stir constantly for 2 minutes to thicken it.
To serve, place in serving bowls and top with bacon.

* I used foil to cover the bowl and my risotto wasn’t that liquid – I cooked it for the exact time.

Serves 2 – I halved the recipe and got loads of risotto (that will be transformed in arancini). In my opinion, 1 recipe serves 3-4.

20 comments:

Pat, I have tried oven risottos a couple of times and was happily surprised with the result despite my sceptcism at first. This DH book was my first one and I really like it. I used it heavily before I went to buy others. Good choice of recipe.

Looks pretty darn good. I've always thought that risotto would be so difficult to make (perhaps it's after seeing so many waiters in Italian restaurants bring the massive wheel of cheese to our table with the risotto in it that intimidated me, I'm not sure...) but this looks pretty straightforward. I think I'll give it a try, soon. By the way, do you and your husband eat different things? Just curious. Mine eats whatever - and I mean, WHATEVER - is put in front of him. Cheers!

Anh, thank you, sweetie. It was my first zucchini risotto, too. I thought that if it worked with pumpkin, why not try with zucchini?? I'm glad I tried it.

Tina, all those ingredients mixed in a bowl and thrown in the oven... I wasn't believing it much. But I'm glad I tried it, it worked wonderfully. That book is really great and I must thank you for "introducing" me to it!

Lydia, I agree - it's a great book and I intend to make many other recipes from it.

Brilynn, I'm crazy about bacon too, dear!

Ellie, that what I did after taking the photo. ;)

Mari, thank you! Even the risotto you make on top of the stove is not difficult - it's just a bit tiring to keep stirring something for 20 minutes. I guess that if you think risottos are difficult to make this recipe is THE one for you, sweetie!Joao is crazy about beef and I don't eat red meat. He's pretty picky, too. So I'm always preparing different food for us.When I was single, I lived with my father and I cooked - he's pretty much like your husband, it was a great joy to cook for him! :)

Valentina, there's no need to brown the ingredients, here - and there's no onions, either. You just mix it all up and bake it.

Tanna, I love this technique too! And the combination of flavors you suggest sounds delicious!

Joey, my thoughts exactly! I could spend some more time on Joao's dish since it was a recipe that envolved 3 different steps.

Gilly, me too, dear! To me, nothing beats risotto. It was my first time using carnaroli, I'd always used arborio.

Freya, thank you, sweetie! xoxo

T.W., I'm with you - and what about preparing this for guests?? You just place the bowl in the oven and go chat with your friends. Perfect!